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There's no dividend payable from a company that hasn't made any money and has negative retained earnings. Strewth.
>>>What the team have done at Speedy has been truly remarkable.<<< Agreed, 88888. I wasn't a fan of Corcoran as he and his 'team' landed SDY in such a huge pile of doo. However, they've changed, learnt a lot (it seems) and this time round it should be real hay rather than the bubble and debt explosion that saw them touch 358p. Debt's down and City comments show that the management is regaining some trust. Corcoran snaffled up his free options this month for a nice £0.5m bonus and McGrath held onto most of his freebies. Good for them. It may be a little early for hay making but increasing faith, more contracts and a positive BoD make this a 'weak buy' vote for me. Happy with my holding for now.
From soorgoolietimes.com "Swiss airs and African breasys" (Part 1) When Lonrho announced the African easyHotel franchise two years ago, it promised "an agreed opening schedule for fifty properties by 2016." The RNS continued, "The opening schedule will focus on African destinations already served by easyJet." [sic] Investors were suitably impressed and the shares rose. On the BBs a well-established discussion pattern developed. The shares charted predictably. Two years on, it's more of the same old story from Lonrho - another great story that spectacularly fails to deliver. The present results are - ONE hotel in a destination about 11,000km from the nearest served by easyJet. [Similar to the Lonrho BOD's precision with profit targets.] The solitary hotel was not even in the country announced nine weeks later, Mozambique, where Lonrho spent about $10m (RNS4695P) acquiring land and buildings. Nor, when they jumped 1,300km to Johannesburg, did they open in the place they announced and signed a lease for. Lonrho eventually opened their first easyHotel a mile away from the Johannesburg site they had leased. The fate of that site, in the iconic former Stuttafords building, remains a mystery. In April 2012, Lonrho signed a 30 year lease for part of it yet now appears to be paying for nothing. The agent involved, AFHCO, still lists the building on their website. Contacting them, the first respondent said that it was not listed. Confronted with the weblink she referred the call to a colleague that did not pick up. Subsequent calls to AFHCO were not returned. This March, Stuttafords' exterior was spruced up with a coat of paint. It's presently unclear how much of the further cost has been split with leaseholder Lonrho and the agent. Certainly Lonrho's painting budget was underspent on their eventual maiden location. The hotel, formerly owned by a students' accommodation collective, already used the easyGroup orange. As the sun, supposedly, sets on Lenigas's involvement in Lonrho, and now fastjet, fellow tax-dodging Monaco resident neighbour Stelios may well have grounds to rue his involvement with the Perth 'bodybuilder.' kibu TBC
WADR, banditus (and where have you been?) dividends are not legally possible at Lonrho. The Retained Earnings account is so deeply negative that one wonders what the BOD intended to achieve by making such a preposterous announcement. They gave the word 'profit' some non-OED meaning, so why not re-define the word 'dividend' or just use an unexpected meaning? >>>Lonrho's Board of Directors, having been advised by Slaughter & Fibbie, and in respect of their own shareholdings, recommend the offer by FS Africa which, in the opinion of the Board, will, in view of the price offered being some 50% above the last market deal prior to the announcement, represent a significant dividend for shareholders<<<
labrow, I was thinking something along the lines of a Nanny McPhee adventure where someone could come along with a big stick and sort out the misbehaving directors, perhaps making them appear in a remake of the entire series of 'Crossroads.' Like their Easyhotel African venture, Crossroads never expanded.
If they're planning to buy Lonrho for film rights, good though it would surely be, they should remember that even 'ENRON: The Smartest Guys In The Room' only took about $5m box office - hardly a good investment. OTOH, relative to market cap, it would be about par for the return that PIs received after believing the BOD six years ago. kibu
Compare "clown" EIMatador's posts to "clown" kibu's posts. A big difference is how we lie. I lie facing the window. EIMatador lies how he feels. kibu
Most interesting meeting today with a person who has a long history with the nominal prime mover behind today's LONR offer. Seems LONR's 'saviour' was himself 'saved' from bankruptcy some years back. Thanks to an institutional investment organised by a certain Mr M, our "hero" regained some credibility and, cutting a long story short, is an extremely wealthy man. Mr M, however, was recently released from jail. One of the other billionaire parties involved in the offer used to run the world's second largest cement company and remains a significant shareholder. A director of FS Africa, the three week old vehicle bidding for your LONR shares, is still a director of the cement company. There is far more to write but I'd rather walk in shoes on land. The never-ending intrigue behind such machinations constantly shafts PIs. kibu
TexasPete, be grateful for some further detail or accredited source. Can you provide, please? kibu
Considering the source of the bid it appears to sort out the multi-million pound derivative 'problem' for a few wealthy parties. The handful of recent investors can celebrate their potential windfall too. The twenty thousand long-term shareholders that include former employees and many in South Africa have seen their holdings decimated. 80% of shareholders, if the deal goes through, will get a cheque for a paltry two figure sum. For a management that claimed to be working for shareholders this represents a two-fingered salute and sign off to an extraordinary business failure. kibu
"of" preferable; "by" already past. Capability Brown a successful and lasting illusionist; Capability White an unsuccessful and an unwelcome contortionist. "Off with their heads" [Queen of Hearts]
5.6932p mid-morning today and presently 5.98p on the bid, it's still choppy ahead. With fastjet plumbing new depths (and not reflected on Lonrho's balance sheet) and Lonrho remaining unprofitable, some new inspiration is needed. How about making peaches the fruit of fashion?
... needed. There's a rough spell on the way. Below 6p it might be a 'hold' but for now ......................................................................
Just come in from the sewers. Picked up lots of clues amongst the expected. None of it looks healthy, I'm afraid. kipoo
If I'd bought on my several 'weak buy' votes at 4.55p days ago, I'd be better off this evening than having bought PHSP at 1508.94p today. Spent time down a silver mine a couple of weeks back and emerged inspired. (At least there are no corporate governance issues to speak of with PHSP.) Pity that the hindsight-gifted LONR rampers that claim to trade profitably rarely stick an opinion vote/banderilla but so enthusiastically diss the bears. Maybe some of the 'coterie' will switch attentions to Polemos? Sadly, BilkosBuddy, I never did enough 'forensic' on this lot. After all, PLUS market was only a vehicle for "suspect" companies and never "suspect" itself. What I could write now would fill many pages but since 3 April, it's no longer relevant. How does PLUS Markets plc suddenly become Polemos, an African oil and gas outfit? I was worried a few months ago when this was announced but now, no worries, Lonrholand's Bruiser has joined as "Executive Chairman." Ironic that, through no additional fault of mine, Bruiser's now working for me. Well, that's what BoDs talk about when they make promises about delivering value for shareholders, isn't it? I consult my LSE bible of investment advice and find these wise words of warning: The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away! Look out for a Polemos placing soon, multiple rampers on the BB, acid thrown at 'agitators' and the usual predictable bull. [Anthony, I'll copy this post 'cos it could be useful later, know what I mean?] kibu
Opinions or votes, m, NOT "recommendations." It's also been a lot longer than two years. Oh, and BB, not just Lonrho but also PAQ, CSFG, SGO, VGM, GBR, LGO, CMB - all companies which have seen PI value destroyed - and other companies and erstwhile brokers over the years that have now disappeared. Motive? Much like a gardener dealing with weeds. kibu
Lonrho acolyte and corporate regurgitator, Garry White (under Daily Telegraph "Questor")has written his most entertaining article yet http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/9982714/Questor-share-tip-Lonrho-a-hold-until-it-delivers-on-its-promise.html Mr White quotes Mr White and by the time you've finished reading it's hard to tell white from white (or black) and if Questor is bullish, bearish or an ostrich. It's no help that he recommends "Hold" having recently recommended "Buy" at 12p which fell to 3.95p and he plainly has no idea about the shenanigans behind the recent false rise. Less taxing and more fathomable, Mr White, how about you put on your journalist's hat and ask Mr White some pertinent questions about Swissta? Two years ago he dissed my long-held publicly recorded concerns. [Google "Swizta et al" for the 6 April 2009 posting.] Get your spade. Dig deep in the leaf mold of the latest accounts where another multi-million pound Lonrho "fiasco" is hidden. kibu
Where will hit-and-miss Lonrho go from here? Past chart history shows that the point at which the moving average crosses the DMA typically results in an April Fool colliding with a Mad March hare. Stochastically speaking, things are never as random as they seem but with the lack of reality at Lonrho, forget your Bernoulli. Sorbets and sundaes are off at Bertorelli (not part of the Markov chain) now it's closed, which leaves peaches at Sainsburys or Stringfellows. kibu
Next results or the ones after that, twojays? 60p on the next results seems a bit wishful. I'm not much interested in sub-100p prices; bought at 19p and am in this for the longer haul. Today's slippage is not a surprise. Whether profit-taking, market sentiment or whatever, it's still a recovery stock. Slow and steady might win back greater, more powerful support with better investor benefits than anything too speedy. kibu